Commentary on a Colleague's Blog

In Nick Matthews' post on pork-barrel spending, Mr. Matthews seems to share the frustration of many Americans today. This aggravation with our government spending is apparent as he reflects on how we are trying to solve the federal deficit, yet money continues to be spent on projects like the "bridge to nowhere." For those of you unfamiliar with that project, that was an idea that was projected to cost $398 million dollars to build a bridge that would benefit a mere fifty people. It is spending such as this that causes me and I assume, Nick Matthews, to become skeptical of the tactics that our government is implementing to fix our current issues.

Mr. Matthews does an excellent job introducing us to the subject and defining his topic for those that might be unaware of "earmarks." He also provides relevant examples that allow the reader to decipher if these "earmarks" are truly "ploys to garner favor and get votes lined up for the next election." Even though he did not include a source for the "bridge to nowhere" argument, I found that I am already familiar with the subject so I know it is a legitimate example. It is clear that pork-barrel spending is an issue in our government and should be either eliminated or heavily regulated. In this aspect I completely agree with Mr. Matthews however, the idea of using it to help the federal deficit I find is too large of an expectation.

Realistically speaking, the pork-barrel spending of our government takes up a very small percentage of our federal deficit. This is seen in the New York Times "Budget Puzzle" where "earmarks" are projected to consume $14 billion of the $418 billion dollars in 2015. Of course fixing the deficit has to start somewhere but that does not seem like a very drastic change, or something to base an argument off of. I thouroughly enjoyed reading this blog and observing Mr. Matthews views on something I also strongly disagree with. Earmarks I feel should be eliminated not because of the federal deficit, because deficit or not, entirely too much money is being thrown at unnecessary projects.